Dragontwins - A New Pern Adventure
by Dragonsight Elli
Summary: It has been long known among Humankind that families can experience multiple births due to the development of twins, triplets, even octuplets. But what happens when the dragons of Pern start laying eggs that produce multiple dragonets from a single egg? Here's one possibility. Check it out!
1. Chapter 1 – Multiple Impressions

_**Chapter 1 – Multiple Impressions**_

No matter how hard I try, I cannot lay this egg! It is too large to come out! I hiss, I moan, I groan, it hurts! I can't get it out! Rollith is lying beside me, and she is having the same problem. Our moans are affecting all of Fort Weyr, who have come out to the Hatching Grounds to watch the tableau. G'narish is recording on his phone, but there's a new camera crew on the perimeter of the Hatching Grounds, recording live so that whoever's watching TV can see it happening. This is the first ever news broadcast, and plenty of people will want to watch dragons lay eggs.

"Shall we get the Masterhealer over here?" Elli asks. "I can feel Chlorith's pain. It seems as though she has a big egg."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" remarks the Masterharper. "All the queens seem to have larger eggs today. Miroirth just laid a huge one over there."

_Let me try it on my own,_ I say in a pained voice. _Dragons are not meant to have c-sections._

"How do you even know what a c-section is?" Elli demands aloud, stunned by this discovery.

"That might be a good idea," Sebell remarks. "This may be unprecedented. If the queens can't lay these eggs, we might have to get them out ourselves."

I push even harder. I moan, groan, and even keen, but I'm making no headway. Elli comes up to me and begins to rub my stomach. I feel her need to push on the stomach the way they do with humans, but she is afraid it'll damage the eggs too much. After another hour of failed attempts to get the egg out, she has no choice. Gingerly at first, she begins to press on my abdomen—finally pressing her whole body on it. The effect is instantaneous. The egg finally begins to move. It makes its slow and painful way out of my body. The result is the largest queen egg any of them have ever seen!

I lay back, exhausted. There is no way in hell I'm going to be able to lay any more eggs today! Elli has moved to assist Rollith, who is still having trouble laying her large egg. It is also a queen, and she too lays back, exhausted. We don't need fellis to sleep, or even that medicine the Masterhealer has invented to make dragons sleep. I just need a big rest.

The following morning, I take time to examine my clutch. Something tells me that big egg I laid yesterday is very special. I curl myself possessively around it, not even letting Rollith near it. I always let Rollith near my clutches because she clutches at the same time I do. But this time, it is different. I won't even eat because I'm afraid someone's going to want to examine my egg. What damage would come to it if I let anyone near it?

Rollith, Miroirth, and Zareth are in similar grumpy, possessive moods. Even our riders are affected by our moods. Their weyrmates put it down to them being in the first or second trimester of pregnancy, but I know what it really is. None of us will calm down until our eggs hatch.

There is a larger number of candidates than usual, but I snarl at any of them who dare approach my eggs! My queen is unique. She'll be the largest queen on Pern if nothing happens to her.

"Chlorith, you're paranoid," Elli chuckles, gently patting my neck as she grins up at me.

I growl at her. I don't even think to use telepathy with her.

"Nothing's wrong with your egg, silly. You're just plain paranoid!"

Miroirth and Zareth have also laid queens, but neither of them is as large as mine or Rollith's. For once in their lives, they're more protective of the mottled eggs that are far too large to be normal. Bronzes, perhaps, to mate with our queens?

Finally, the day comes, and I'm a nervous wreck. Elli tries to calm me down but to no avail. I hiss at anyone who comes too close to my queen egg.

"You have to stop that, Chlorith," Elli says gently. "You have to let her make Impression."

_I won't let anyone near her until she hatches,_ I state firmly.

The thrumming of the other dragons reaches a fever pitch. I bugle a warning as the first egg cracks. It is of Rollith's clutch, and she bugles several times before Impression is made. The little bronze dragonet walks with his new rider to the edge of the sands to get some meat scraps. The smell of the food makes me even more irascible. Serves me right for not eating before I clutched.

The second egg cracks. This time, it is of my clutch, but not the large one. Once again, Impression is made, and the little green dragon walks off with her lifemate.

Miroirth's large egg splits right down the middle; gasps of disbelief sweeping the crowd assembled in the Hatching Grounds. I stare in amazement, hardly believing what I'm seeing. Not one but two bronze dragonets struggle to extricate themselves from the shell!

Twins! What the actual shards?! How can dragons produce identical twins?

And that's when, in a single startling heartbeat, I suddenly recall Ariana's dreams! By the First Egg!

The twin bronze dragonets struggle to get out of a shell too small for them. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, six-year-old Aidan jumps down from his seat in the tiers to assist them; his actions very reminiscent of what Jaxom had done for his lifemate, Ruth, those many Turns ago. His twin brother, Michael, jumps down, as well. They steal their father's belt knife and cut at the shell, their efforts finally releasing the two bronzes from their confinement. They, in turn, raise adoring eyes to the six-year-old twins.

"He says his name is Warth!" Aidan exclaims, tears cascading down his face.

"He says his name is Worth!" Michael cries, throwing his trembling arms around his new weyrmate.

N'ton looks on helplessly as the boys join the small knot of new weyrlings. Zareth's egg cracks and we go through the same procedure, only two much older boys assist the twins to their feet. They join the small group, gazing tauntingly down at the pair of younger twins.

Rollith's egg cracks. I hold my breath, because whatever is wrong with hers is also wrong with mine. Two of the girls go to the queen's side to assist her, but when the shell is finally open, they discover twins once again. Rollith bugles a challenge, but it's too late. Impression is made. Finally, my egg cracks right down the middle like the others had. There is no struggle this time. One queen flops out one side of the shell, and her golden twin flops out of the other side. They rise unsteadily to their feet, creeling with hunger, looking for their new riders, but no candidate on the grounds seems interesting to them.

"Mommy," Ariana cries, seizing my rider's arm, "They're coming this way!"

Flabbergasted, Elli stammers, "How can they both want someone outside the grounds?"

"Ask Chlorith and Rollith," Tiffany replies, grinning at her pseudo twin.

"Something's nudging me on the leg," Oriana complains. "Get it off me! I don't like being licked by dogs."

"There're no dogs in the Hatching Grounds, silly," says Ariana. "That's a dragon!"

"Can I keep her, Mommy?" Oriana begs at her sweetest. "Please?"

"It appears we have no choice," Elli says indulgently. "You have to remember to take care of her, though. She's a dragon, not a baby doll."

"Where's mine?" Ariana whines. "I'm supposed to have one, too!"

"She's climbing up the steps," Oriana tells her. "I think she's yours, Ari!"

Sure enough, the little queen falls into Ariana's lap. Elli's daughter, now completely recovered from the fire-head, helps the little golden dragon to her feet. That illness would forever leave Ari blind, but as Elli and Tiffany have taught the world, being a blind dragonrider was no problem at all as long as their dragons were not also blind.

"I'll remember to take care of her," Ariana says, looking at her sister. "She has no 'spons'bility ever! She will never remember to oil and bathe her and let her eat. I will."

"They'll still be children when their dragons rise to mate," Elli worries. "Unless a nine-year-old can go through puberty early. Raeana didn't go through puberty until she was eleven."

"It's been known to happen," Manora says gently. "Especially in the Weyrs."

"When can I bring her home, Mama?" Oriana plaintively asks, hugging her new golden lifemate.

"I can't go _between,_" Elli says softly. "As soon as the babies are born, we can go back to Honshu. F'lessan has been restoring it for us."

_I, too, will be glad to get home,_ I say. _I would like to bask in the sun and swim with the dolphins again._

"And G'narish'll feel better once he's away from a fighting Weyr," Elli adds. "He's really had a lot of nightmares, lately. Of course, I can't fight Thread anyway, but he wouldn't let me if I could."

"I know," Tiffany tells my rider. "It wakes me and F'rangle up. We're right next door to you." Hearing Elli's groan, she adds, "I'm not annoyed. I want to help, but I'm not as good at comforting as you are. I just stand around uncomfortably until you calm yourself down. But we've done this so often in our role plays that you'd think I'd know what to do. The guy needs serious meds, but they haven't even started working in the mental health field yet. I don't know what to do for him."

"All we can do is help him through it, twin," Elli sighs, giving her pseudo twin a hug of gratitude. "He's almost normal when there's no Thread in the sky, but at night and when there's Threadfall, he's an absolute lunatic! He just goes totally berserk, and there's nothing we can do about it till it passes. I can't wait till the Pass is over. That'll solve all his problems."


	2. Chapter 2 - Impression Worries

_**Chapter 2 – Impression Worries**_

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"

The scream wakes the whole Weyr, but I'm used to it. It comes from my rider's weyr, but not from her. It comes from her weyrmate. He's having yet another nightmare. We really need to get out of here, but Elli and Tiffany flat-out refuse to leave their twins here alone. They're way too young to be dragonriders, and they still need raising. Their dragons don't seem to think so, though. They think they can play with their riders easier than they would if they were mature.

_You can't undo an Impression_, Ruth says to me, _so you just have to roll with it._

The humans had tried to undo his Impression of Lord Jaxom, but they couldn't undo that, either. Elli has always wanted her children to be dragonriders, but not at so young an age.

I think we need to get going, though. This Weyr is bringing back too many memories of D'nag dying in that Ill-fated Threadfall. We're supposed to have Threadfall this morning. Elli can't fight because she's pregnant, but if she could, I know she'd be out there. Thread is like a load of bugs to her. It has to be destroyed right away! It really disturbs her that she cannot be out in the thick of things. Instead, she has to deal with a half-mad weyrmate. She doesn't seem to mind that, not in the slightest. What she does mind is that her darling children Impressed dragons at the tender age of six. Tiffany is royally pissed off. She thinks the dragons made a mistake as far as Impressing her sons.

"I'm pissed, too, twin," Elli quietly tells her friend in a placating voice, "but there's really nothing we can do about it now."

"Did you see those boys who Impressed the other twin bronzes?" Tiffany demands. "They're going to bully my sons and your daughters until they want to kill themselves."

"Hey, sweetie," Elli says to G'narish now. "All our children are dragonriders now."

"I don't like that," G'narish says petulantly. "They're too young. They won't know how to take care of a dragon."

Before Elli can answer, the twins come bouncing into the room.

"Where's the oil pot?" asks Ariana, her hair dancing behind her.

"We gave you one, sweetheart," Elli happily replies.

"I don't know where it is!" Ariana's voice becomes plaintive.

"Use your dragon's vision," Elli suggests.

"I don't know how," Ariana sobs.

Calmly, softly, Elli says, "Tell her to send you an image. Then you'll get one."

"My whole body itches!" Ariana reports.

"Ask her where the oil pot is."

"Is it on my nightstand?" Ariana asks.

_Yes, it is,_ Ari's new lifemate responds, an image of it appearing in the little girl's mind.

"Okay," Ariana responds, happy again as she bounces out of the room.

"That's yours to use, too, Ori," Elli says to the other daughter when she realizes she's still standing there.

"I don't want to use her pot," Oriana whines. "I want my own pot. My dragon's too big to share."

"Oh boy," Elli sighs to G'narish. "This is what I was afraid of."

"You need to share," G'narish says sternly.

"We're giving you our oil pot to start out with," Elli explains, laying her hand against Ori's cheek, "so we're sharing with you. You need to share with your sister."

"But she'll take all of it and I won't have enough for my dragon!" Oriana complains.

"Don't worry, precious!" Elli assures her daughter, adding a hug for good measure. "There's enough oil in that pot for a grown dragon, so you'll easily have enough for both of your dragonets."

"Still, you'd better go oil her before that pot runs out," G'narish says brightly to Oriana, making it a challenge.

The suggestion works. Ari's twin pelts out of the room like a bat out of hell. G'narish sinks into Elli's arms, all diversions spent.

_This is going to end badly,_ Elli thinks to me.

_The dragon chooses his rider,_ I remind her gently.

_Oriana's always been jealous of Ariana because of her health issues,_ Elli silently tells me. _What makes you think she's going to be civil to her now?_

_Just wait and see,_ I just as quietly reply.

"They're too young to be dragonriders!" G'narish mutters, shaking his head.

"I know, honey," Elli tries to comfort him.

"They'll be bullied to suicide!" G'narish cries.

"They won't be able to fight Thread for ten years," Elli agrees.

"They'll mate when they're nine!" G'narish wails.

"Well, nothing either one of us can do about it now." Elli sighs, disconsolately. "Tiffany thinks the other twin bronze riders are going to bully her sons. They're probably in their early to mid-teens. That's the perfect age to bully someone."

"Then, they're coming with us back to Honshu," G'narish decides. "They can't be in a fighting wing until they're 16, so Honshu is the best place for them. F'lessan has declared it livable again. Raeana and Calentia will have to return to Igen. They're the only Weyrwomen Igen has.

"We could send Rollith's twins with them," Elli suggests. "They'd have a fighting wing again when they grow up."

"Fort already has four queens, so that's a good idea." G'narish says approvingly.

"We need to fly straight, or Tiffany and I will lose our babies for sure," Elli reminds him.

"It's going to be a long flight, but I agree," G'narish sighs, giving my rider a hug. "You need to fly straight. I can fly _between_ with all our stuff and unpack, so you don't have to do it when you get home yourself."

Elli nods, then the two of them go to check on the twins. There is some squabbling over the pot, but, thankfully, none of the precious oil ends up on the floor. Then, once the two queen dragonets are finally cared for, everyone puts on their flying gear.

Elli mounts me. G'narish mounts Gyarmath. We each take a dragonet on our backs along with their personal stuff and the children and head back to Honshu.

It looks just like it did before D'lan burned it down. F'lessan put a new spiral staircase in so that we can get to the observatory. Golanth no longer needs his ramp, but it's still there, anyway. The humans set up weyrs for the little dragonets, and, soon, we fall asleep in our reconstructed wallows. We do not sleep with Golanth, even though his weyr's large enough for all of us. Dragons need privacy just as much as humans. I awaken to find all the stuff is unpacked, and the humans are talking in the main counsel room.

_How many times do I have to remind them that the dragons choose their riders?_ I sigh gustily.

Elli hears my complaint and laughs.

"Chlorith's exasperated," she tells the others, good-naturedly. "She says the dragon chooses his rider."

_Didn't I choose you when you were deemed too old to Impress by silly human restrictions?_ I ask.

"Well, yes," Elli says aloud, "but children don't Impress for good reasons. You heard the squabble over the oil pot last night. They don't know how to do anything with a dragon!"

_And you did?_ I respond with a snort.

"I was taught."

_As they will be,_ I fire back. _Don't underestimate your children. They're more mature than you give them credit for. If you're worrying about Ariana's blindness, that never stopped you, did it?_

Elli closes her mouth. That was indeed the next complaint she was going to level.

"What did she say?" F'lessan wonders.

Elli gives him the rundown.

"It seems all the dragons support these Impressions," G'narish sighs. "I'm just really concerned about all our children Impressing so young. What would D'nag think about this crisis?"

He lapses into a brooding silence that makes everyone else uncomfortable. Elli puts an arm around his shoulders, but he doesn't respond to her touch. Gyarmath stirs uneasily in his wallow.

_I want to swim,_ he says, plaintively. _I want to dance._

_I do, too_, I say for the first time since ... that … happened. _I want to dance!_

"Let's go, then, Chlori," Elli says.

The atmosphere in the room is too tense for her. I can tell she wants to get out and do something.

"Elli, no dancing!" G'narish and F'lessan say in unison, causing her to groan in exasperation.

"I need to get out of here!" she cries. "The atmosphere is too electric."

"We could all do with some exercise," F'lessen diplomatically offers, rising from his seat, "and we could teach the children how to bathe their dragonets."


	3. Chapter 3 - Growing Families

_**Chapter 3 – Growing Families**_

"I just wish the twins would stop fighting!" G'narish complains as he and Elli get ready for bed. "Aureath and Aurelith don't fight like that. It's been three sevendays, so you'd think the twins would be getting along better now that they both have dragons. It's like what I went through with Seska and Calentia. It's constant, all because Ariana's always so ill. Oriana thinks we don't love her because Ari gets all the attention."

G'narish' words tug at Elli's heart. This is the first time he has mentioned Seska's name since she attempted to kill Calentia.

"I know, sweetheart," Elli gently replies, adding a hug. "It's okay. Perhaps if we spent one day just with Oriana, things would lighten up between them."

"I feel like I have to choose sides," G'narish sadly mutters. "And, for the most part, Ariana's the one in the right."

"I know," Elli sighs, "but how do we get a six-year-old to understand that? OOOh!"

Elli suddenly flinches. I feel it, too, like I'm about to clutch, but I don't have any fertile eggs in me right now.

"Is it time?" G'narish asks, his expression anxious.

"If it is, I'm three months early!" Elli grunts against the pain, panicking. "A pregnancy takes nine to ten months on Pern!"

"We'll have to get Manora," G'narish says, flinging the covers back and leaping out of bed. "She's good with childbirth. Didn't she singlehandedly deliver F'lessan?"

"I don't effing know!" Elli cries, caught in the throes of another contraction. "This is worse than delivering the twins!"

Suddenly recalling, his voice betraying his panic, G'narish exclaims, "Manora's with Tiffany! She's before her time, too!"

"Then, get me over to her room," Elli says, struggling out of bed. "We can deliver together like we did with the twins."

"F'rangle's with her this time," G'narish says flatly.

"You were with me that time, too," Elli argues, grimacing as she's hit with another contraction. "We could both use a couple of labor coaches."

G'narish sighs in resignation, picks Elli up easily, and carries her into Tiffany's room. He deposits her gently on the bed next to her twin.

"You, too?" Tiffany groans, not with annoyance, but with the pain of her contractions.

"We might have to do c-sections on the both of you," Manora informs them, slathering numbweed on both women's abdomens. "You have too many babies, and it'll be too hard to push them out."

"Oh, no, you don't!" Elli says determinedly. "I had a c-section with Raeana, and I felt like I did no work getting her out of me. For once, I'm going to do this the right way!"

"You have triplets!" Manora argues.

"And there have been women who did it vaginally with sextuplets," Elli hotly replies. "I can do this, Manora."

Elli begins to push, but Manora stops her, and I can see why. The cord is wrapped around one of the babies' necks. The former Benden headwoman deftly unwraps the entanglement and allows Elli to push once more. Several times the cords wrap around the babies' necks, and several times they have to be unwrapped. By the time the triplets are delivered, Elli is exhausted. She wants to fall asleep.

"Please don't go!" G'narish begs, holding tightly to his weyrmate's hand. "Don't leave me, too. We already lost the babies. I can't bear to lose you, too!"

"We haven't lost the babies," Elli just manages to mutter, annoyance coloring her words. "And I'm just going to sleep."

_No, Elli,_ I tell her. _Listen to G'narish. If you go, I'll go __between__ and they will weep._

"Good night, Chlorith!" says Elli, even more annoyed.

"It's too late to do a c-section now," Manora reports. "They're already halfway out. You just need one more big push for the first one. Then two more good pushes will deliver the other two."

"I can't do it anymore," Elli complains. "I just want to sleep!"

"You can't sleep now, twin," Tiffany says. "If I can't sleep, neither can you."

"You're mean," Elli whines.

She closes her eyes. I panic.

_You can't sleep yet! You have to stay here. I love you. I need you. I can't lose you!_

G'narish is saying the exact same thing out loud. He is in tears. Elli feels them fall on her cheeks as he stands over her. He takes her hand and squeezes it, effectively waking her up again. She tries to pull away, but just then, a little head pokes out. This renews her determination to push as hard as she can. The head crowns, then the neck.

"Stop! There's a cord wrapped around the neck again."

Manora unwraps the cord yet again, then Elli continues to push. Then comes the body and finally the legs. Ganellin is free! G'narish cuts the offending cord, and they clean the baby boy up.

"Now for Denagger," G'narish says.

"You know, I only approved of that name because he was your best friend," Elli says, grinning. "Denagger Andreas. And Xakkari Thomas."

Denagger comes out with the cord wrapped around his neck. But Manora is watchfully alert, deftly unwrapping the cord yet again, allowing G'narish to cut it.

"Will he be all right?" he asks anxiously.

"His color's good," says Manora with a hint of optimism, "so I think so."

Then Xakkari comes out, but he appears stillborn, lifeless. Fearing the worst, G'narish bursts into tears at the sight of his dead son.

"We can resuscitate him," Elli says brightly. "Just breathe for him."

And she suits actions to words. For a long time, she breathes for her baby, until he finally fills the room with an ear-splitting cry!

"Yay!" Elli weeps.

"He's alive?!" G'narish gasps, peering down at the bawling, red-faced infant, stunned speechless by what his weyrmate has done.

Only now, there are seven babies crying in the room.

"I need to nurse two of them," Elli tells him, shifting her position slightly on the bed, "and you can feed one with the bottle."

She puts Ganellin and Denagger to her breasts then gives the now squirming Xakkari to G'narish to feed.

"By the First Egg, he's alive!" G'narish cries, gently cradling the baby in his arms, happy tears streaming down his face.

"Yes, and he's hungrier than a dragon!" Elli says petulantly. "Feed him!"

The next few days are full of babies, so we're put on the back burner for a bit. They oil us when we need it. And once, we all go to the feeding grounds to eat, but all that is done while the babies are sleeping. G'narish and Elli completely forget about spending a day with Oriana as they had originally planned. She and Ariana are fighting nonstop over the oil pot and food scraps, and it's driving Elli mad and G'narish to tears.

"Will you two stop fighting over everything?" Elli finally howls, her patience in tatters. "I love you both equally, but you've got to start acting like twins!"

"I hate her!" Oriana screams at the top of her lungs. "She always gets the best of everything because she's sick!"

"That's not true," Elli angrily responds. "You two both get everything equally. You just like hers better because it's hers! It's exactly the same as yours! Take a look."

"Didn't you get twin queen dragons?" asks Manora, joining in the conversation. "They're identical, just like you."

"Can we trade dragons?" Ariana asks. "I don't want to, but I'm afraid she will."

"You can't trade dragons," Elli replies, grinning. "Once your dragon chooses you and Impression is made, she's yours for life!"

"I wouldn't trade my dragon!" Oriana cries indignantly, weeping as she faces Elli. "I'm afraid you'll take her away from me because I'm too young to have a dragon!"

Ori breaks into tears, sobbing forlornly. Elli takes her in her arms and holds her tightly.

"I do agree that you're too young to have a dragon," Elli says tenderly, planting a kiss on Ori's forehead, "but the dragon chooses the rider. We can't reject an Impression."

"You're not gonna take her away from me?" Oriana sniffs, peering up at her mother.

_She won't_, Aurelith assures her rider.

"No, we aren't," Elli smiles down at her daughter. "Now, share the scrap bucket with your twin. There's enough food in there for both dragonets. That's why we did it that way, so you could learn to share with your sister."

"What if I don't want to share with her?" Oriana complains. "I want stuff of my own. I don't mind sharing a weyr with her, but I do mind sharing all my stuff."

_I like sharing with Aureath,_ Aurelith remarks. _I think it's nice to have a twin. I love my twin._

"Okay," Oriana sighs, smiling indulgently at her dragonet. "As long as you love Aureath, I'll try to love Ariana."


	4. Chapter 4 - Trouble Sleeping

_**Chapter 4 – Trouble Sleeping**_

Once again, Elli's mother has to help with the babies, even though she's 75 and worrying about her husband. He's 80, and he's not doing well. I feel guilty, because I'm so high maintenance when it comes to itchy patches. I must take precedence. Even Elli's Mom says so.

"Don't worry, Chlorith," says Elli genially. "Mom's never happy unless she's taking care of babies."

She's so good at it, in fact, that Manora, who is now headwoman of Honshu, has made her supervisor of children. Elli and Tiffany both have children. Elli has five living here and Tiffany has six.

I am awakened out of a sound sleep by Gyarmath whimpering. He's mirroring G'narish's dreams again. I cover him with my wing, but Elli sleeps on. Taking care of triplets is exhausting for her. She is relieved when her mother takes over. The boys have to sleep with Elli's parents because of G'narish's nightmares. He always awakens screaming and sweating. Tonight is no exception. He screams and writhes. Elli tries to wake him up but to no avail.

"No, I tried!" he screams in his sleep. "I tried to save you! I couldn't! I'm sorry! I c-c-couldn't!"

"Narish, wake up," Elli cries. "Wake up! You're disturbing the twins. They're next door."

"I tried!" G'narish says much more quietly. "I couldn't save him!"

"I know you couldn't, my darling," Elli sighs. "If you had flamed at that Thread, you'd've flamed him, too, and he would've died regardless. He would've been killed by you instead of the Thread. You had to let it eat him. Otherwise you'd be upset because you killed him."

"But he says I did kill him," G'narish sobs. "Every night in my dreams, he's there, and he's blaming me."

"Is this what's been eating at you all this time?" Elli asks, realization beginning to dawn on her face. "Is this why you've been so hypersensitive about everything?"

"Yes," whispers G'narish, and he breaks down completely.

Gyarmath is now awake, his keens audible to everyone in Honshu.

"Shh, shh," we tell our Weyrmates over and over again.

The twins come bouncing into the room, obviously happy about something.

"I found the food scraps!" Ariana shouts in jubilation. "I did it all myself, and I fed Aureath! I don't need your help anymore! I can do it on my own." Her excitement turning to worry, she asks, "What's the matter with Daddy?"

"He had a bad dream, darling heart," Elli quietly replies. "You wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I would," Ariana disagrees. "I have a dragon now. I can understand anything!"

"Remember Uncle D'nag?" asks Elli.

"Yeah, he was a nice guy," Oriana responds. "He would play with me when no one else would."

"He died of Threadscore about a year ago now," Elli whispers, hugging her weyrmate, "and your daddy blames himself because he saw it happen."

"Aureath calls that survivor's guilt," Ariana says. "It wasn't Daddy's fault. It was the Thread's. Thread is nasty, and I can't wait to fight it!"

"You'll have to wait until you're 16, sweetheart-pie," Elli says gently.

"What weyr will we be fighting for?" asks Oriana.

"Whichever weyr you choose to fight for," Elli replies, smiling warmly at the twins, "as long as they have quarters for you."

"I want to be with Ori," says Ariana.

"I want to be by myself," Oriana responds, which makes Ariana cry.

"Perhaps you'll want to be by yourself when you're older, too," Elli consoles her weeping child. "Don't worry. Twins are meant to stay together, and she'll learn that pretty soon."

"We can talk to each other the same way we do with our dragons," Ori complains, "and it's really annoying!"

"I like it!" says Ariana through her tears. "I love it. We can have private talks without you knowing what we're saying."

"But I can't think a single thing without you knowing what I'm saying," whines Oriana.

_But that's the way of twins,_ Aurelith responds. _I itch._

"We're out of oil," mutters Oriana.

"We gave you some more," Elli says. "I filled the pot myself this morning."

Oriana thanks her and bounces out of the room. Ariana clings to her parents, begging them with her arms not to let Oriana hate her so much.

_She doesn't hate you_, Aureath assures her rider. _She just wants to be her own person_. _I want to be a twin and so does Aurelith so that Ori will learn to live together with you. She'll have to because I'm not going anywhere without Aurelith!_

I rumble in the equivalent of laughter for dragons.

_I thought the dragon mirrors the rider_, I say.

"Ari?"

Oriana has quietly returned to the room. Silently, she comes up to her sister and gives her a gentle hug.

"Okay," says Ori. "If you want us to stay twins, I'll be your twin. I just like my privacy sometimes."

Nodding, Ariana manages a watery smile. Oriana gives her sister another hug, and they return together to their room to oil their dragons.

"Are you okay?" Elli asks, turning back to her weyrmate.

"No," he candidly replies.

"Understandable," Elli whispers, putting her arms around G'narish.

I cover Gyarmath with my wing once more.

"You'll be okay, though," she gently tells G'narish. "You're not okay at the moment, and that's fine, but I'll help you be okay again."

"Don't leave me like he did!" G'narish pleads with her.

"I won't," she assures him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "I promise."

"Help me."

"I will, and I am."

Elli holds him tightly again while he sobs himself to sleep in her arms. She does not sleep the rest of the night. When it's her turn to take the babies, she sighs with relief.


	5. Chapter 5 - Dragon PTSD

_**Chapter 5 – Dragon PTSD**_

The twins are improving day by day. They aren't fighting as much as they used to. They're even doing more things together because their dragons want to do everything together. Aureath and Aurelith are twins to the core, and they follow the stereotype all the way through, whereas the human twins do not. Ariana wants to, but her twin sister doesn't. Oriana wants her own toys and her own tablet whereas Ariana's prepared to share all of her stuff with her twin. Elli is beginning to see that perhaps it would be better for the twins to have their own stuff. It took her awhile to see it, but she now sees that it'd stop most of their silly quarrels.

"They're giving me flashbacks," chuckles G'narish. "Ariana's a lot like Calentia, and Oriana's more like... like … her."

"Who's her?" asks Oriana, coming into the room with her twin following right behind.

"Seska, honey," Elli whispers, trying to explain without upsetting G'narish.

"I would never use my dragon to hurt another person!" Oriana yells, bristling at the suggestion. "I love Ari! She's my twinny. Even though I don't always want to do things with her, she's still my twinny, and I wouldn't kill her if I had to!"

This is such a heart-felt speech coming from a six-year-old girl that G'narish breaks down and Elli cheers and claps. All four of our dragons bugle in agreement. We have the twins sharing a weyr right now, but I can hear the wheels turning in Elli's head.

"Ori, what if we move you into the other room next door and put your Aurelith in that weyr," Elli suggests. "That'll give you more room to spread out, and you won't have Ari following you around like a lost puppy."

Now it's Ari's turn to cry. G'narish gathers her into his arms, having regained control over himself.

"Your dragon is growing, and she needs more space," G'narish explains. "It'd be more convenient for one of you to move into the room next door. Ori wants to move out, so we're giving her the option. The only reason two dragons should stay in the same weyr after growing up should be because they're weyrmates, not twins."

"B-b-but she'll never play with me again!" Ari weeps.

"Yes, I will," Oriana replies. "I'll be right next door. I just won't sleep with you anymore. I will even cuddle with you, but not at bedtime."

_I'm hungry and I itch_, the twins say in unison.

"Well that's that," Elli says cheerily. "Go feed and oil your dragons and we'll talk about changing weyrs afterward. Aidan and Michael have already done it, even though they were happy sharing the same room."

"A'dan and M'chael," G'narish corrects her to which Elli nods.

"By the way, who got the other twin queens?" Elli asks.

"Elsie and Kelsie," G'narish says. "Your niece and her best friend from Benden. They're so tight they would deserve twins."

"Did they return to Benden?" Elli wonders.

"Yes, they did," G'narish confirms. "At least they're old enough to have dragons. I was their age when I Impressed Gyarmath."

"The girls are learning, sweetheart," Elli says tenderly. "You've got to give them credit. I'm still concerned about those boys who Impressed the other twin bronzes. I'm still afraid they'll make trouble for our children once they can go _between_. They looked like they had the potential to be bullies."

"Dragons don't like bullies, remember?" G'narish reminds her.

"Really?" Elli growls, glaring at her weyrmate. "Then what was T'ton, hmm? What was G'lanar? What was T'kul? What was Danala? What was Seska? And what on Pern was D'lan?"

That last name gives me bad memories, and I explode into the dragon equivalent of tears.

"Oh, my Chlorith! Whatever is the matter?" Elli wonders as she gets up from her chair and rushes to my side.

_I killed him! I killed him!_

That mantra pulses through Elli's head, as it's all I can think about.

"You did the right thing, darling-heart," Elli gushes tenderly. "You did the right thing! He wanted to turn dragons into evil monsters, something for the Pernese to be afraid of after the Pass is over. We only have 15 Turns left of the Pass. Then there will no longer be Threadfalls, and you will be relegated to the most boring task in the universe — watching stars all night. I don't know how we're going to manage that. Dragons are not nocturnal. This task would be better suited to a watchwher. They see heat; you don't."

Her babbling does nothing to assuage my guilt. I had taken two sentient lives that day, and dragons were specifically programmed not to do so. A dragonet on Impression day is a different story. They're not sentient until they find their riders, and if you don't get out of the way fast enough, they might trample you to death. No dragon would remember doing that. I don't remember doing that on my way to the seats to find Elli, but I do remember doing this. I can't stop keening. Elli takes my head in her arms and strokes it, rocks it, and croons to me.

"Let's go swimming," she finally says. "I can go _between_ now, and exercise will help you get past this quicker. Come on, Chlori. It'll do you good."

_I don't deserve to swim after that_, I sob. _I don't deserve anything._

"You did what you had to do." Elli is becoming exasperated with me. "You saved all Pern that day. We actually had a battle between dragons, for Pete's sake. You stopped that! You're my heroine!"

_Even though I killed another sentient being?_ I ask with a mental sniff.

"Yes, my darling!" Elli says more gently. "To save the people of Pern and our dragons from what D'lan was planning, the only thing you could do to stop him was to kill him. You couldn't have done anything else that day. I couldn't have seen where he was to do it. And besides, I couldn't be there myself, anyway. You went _between_ riderless to stop the fight. That was very noble of you. You have the term chivalry down pat. Everyone G'narish and I have spoken to applauds you for what you did that day. If you hadn't stopped Denorth, D'lan would've simply given him another program, and the whole sad mess would've started all over again! You didn't give D'lan time to realize that you'd dislodged the program. That was all for the better. Yes, you used the tactics of another villain, but you did it for a good reason. All those dragons who died that day did not die in vain. You saved the planet from destruction from agencies that were supposed to keep it safe! You lived up to the name of dragon that day, and I'm very, very proud of you!"

She gives my head another squeeze then releases it because she hears footsteps.

"Is everything alright?" It's G'narish.

"I guess I can't mention his name in front of Chlorith," Elli sighs, a solitary tear sliding down her cheek. "She's still very guilt-ridden about what she did that day. I told her it was a heroic act and that it was the only way to stop him, but she's still caught up on the fact that she killed two sentient beings. I don't know how to convince her that she did the right thing."

"A swim sounds like a perfect idea," says G'narish. "Linda's got the children under control for now, so let's just get our flying gear and go swimming with the dolphins. They really ought to rig up a bell on that beach. Then we can really have fun with them."

"Chlorith doesn't think she deserves a swim," Elli confides in him.

"I heard her," G'narish replies. "Remember I can hear my weyrmate's dragon."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Elli chuckles, giving his arm a hug. Then, turning to me, she says, "Come on, Chlorith, let's go swimming. I promise you'll feel better afterward."


	6. Chapter 6 - Family Fears

_**Chapter 6 – Family Fears**_

Elli says it's been three Turns since the twins Hatched, and they're due to rise any day now. She and G'narish added another son to the family, so now they have a total of nine children: Calentia, Raeana, Cassandria, Ariana, Oriana, Ganellin, Denagger, Xakkari, and now Andreas Ganarisher. He is just learning how to walk. Elli doesn't want anymore, and she thinks she's going through menopause, so there won't be anymore.

Cassandria wants to Impress a queen in the worst way. I agree she'd be an excellent candidate, though she doesn't share Elli's ability to speak to any dragon on Pern. She will be ten in a few months time, and that's how old Jaxom was when he Impressed Ruth. Elli doesn't want her on the Hatching Grounds for fear she might take after her blood mother, but it's nature vs nurture all over again. She was raised in a better environment than her mother, with loving parents and a stable home.

"So was Seska," Elli points out for the umpteenth time; "and look where that led to."

_Cassandria is not like that_, I counter. _She is the gentlest most compassionate little girl you could ever find. She's a lot like her older sisters. Calentia and Raeana set her good examples._

"Okay, okay," Elli mutters, conceding defeat, "but I'm keeping a close eye on her. We don't need another Danala."

_Look at her personality, Elli,_ I argue. _You've raised her. Do you really think that she's capable of something like that? She doesn't want power at all! She's too much like Calentia and Raeana. She's nothing like her mother._

"Nobody thought Danala was capable of it, either, but she was," Elli reminds me.

_Blood may be thicker than water, but it doesn't always tell. She will Impress, and she'll be an excellent queen rider._

"Okay, okay," Elli once more concedes. "I just don't want G'narish upset. He hasn't improved at all these past Turns."

_I know,_ I say gently. _He wakes me up every night. He still thinks he's to blame for his brother's death. He still thinks his brother blames him for it._

"I love fighting Thread with you," Elli admits, "but that has to stop. He goes nuts every time Thread falls, and he even goes off if you mention the word in any context. I have to stay with him, to protect him, to keep him safe."

_What about desensitization therapy?_ I ask.

"I don't think that'll work this time, my precious," Elli sighs, shaking her head. "I think getting him out there in Threadfall will only traumatize him further."

_It might at first,_ I persist, _but he'll get better after each successive Fall._

I stop. There's a feeling of excitement in the air. Aureath is about to rise. I devoutly hope either Worth or Warth fly her. Neither of the girls has had their period yet. They haven't even started puberty yet.

"Chlori, we've got to go!" Elli cries excitedly. "The bronzes are blooding their kills!"

"What about the girls?" G'narish demands.

"Ariana will have to stay behind because it's her queen that's about to rise," Elli responds, "but Oriana will have to go away."

"Where will we go?" asks Oriana plaintively. "Will we have to go forever?"

"No, no," Elli reassures her. "Just until Aureath is done mating. It'll be your turn next."

_I will listen,_ says Gyarmath. _You go back to Igen and see the girls._

"That's a good idea," Elli admits. "Let's go see Raeana and Calentia."

In quick order, Elli and Oriana are astride my neck ridge, and we are quickly away, jumping _between_ after barely gaining wing room.

I get images of the mating flight from Gyarmath as we visit with the girls. Aureath dances as I do, and she's really giving the bronzes a run for their money. Gyarmath centers on Ariana, who is completely in tune through her link to her dragon.

_She's taking the flight well,_ Gyarmath says. _She is mature beyond her Turns. I do not worry about her as much as I am about Ori. She still whines constantly. Aurelith's more mature than she is._

"Duh," Elli says to him. "But how will she take to mating if it's not Worth or Warth who flies her?"

_Worth flies Aureath_, Gyarmath says finally. _She is safe._

Elli breathes a sigh of relief. Ariana's virginity will remain intact. It is safe for us to return home, but Elli doesn't want to leave Raeana so soon. She has three children of her own now, and Elli is anxious to see them. As she prepares to take her leave, she notices Calentia weeping softly in the corner.

"What's the matter, dear heart?" Elli rushes to her.

"Nothing." Calentia sniffs.

"Yeah, right," Elli scoffs. "I heard you crying. What's going on? You know I won't let up until you tell me."

"I'm just worried about G'narish," Calentia finally admits, shedding tears in the process. "I can't just stay here and watch him suffer from afar."

"We could use you in the queens' wing," Elli remarks, "but you're a Weyrwoman now."

"I know," she sobs. "But A'mer was badly scored yesterday, and Ilia doesn't think he'll make it through the night."

As if on cue, there is that awful stillness in the air that precedes a death.

"Everybody's getting Threaded lately," Elli sighs, giving Calentia a hug. "This Pass has seen less deaths than any other, but people are getting careless. D'nag emerged into a clump of Thread that he didn't know was there, and now A'mer. You're without a healer now as well as a Weyrmate."

"I'll never let my queen mate again!" Calentia wails.

"Nonsense!" Elli counters. "We'll just throw the next flight open. I understand no one can replace someone you've lost, but you can still have a wonderful life with someone new. G'narish found that out when Gyarmath mated Chlorith."

"I can't stay here!" Calentia breaks into a storm of crying, burying her face in her hands.

Elli takes her into her arms and pulls her head down to her shoulder.

"Come to Honshu for a while to recover," she says kindly. "I'll help you pack your stuff."

"Thank you," Calentia manages between sniffles. "But where will I go during mating flights? I can't come back here!"

"We have family at Benden, too,". Elli reminds her. "But what about Raeana? She can't come with us. She's senior Weyrwoman now."

"I know," Calentia says miserably.

"Losing someone is always hard," Elli says gently. "I'll be willing to help you through it if you'll let me. I remember when Tiffany was in hospice back in 2016, and the doctors gave her a week to live. I was waiting on tenter hooks for the call that would tell me she had passed. I was a nervous wreck. All I could do was cry and cling to Mom for dear life. I even went shopping with her to get my mind off it and to be near her phone, because I was sure Veronika would call her instead of me."

"But you still have her," Calentia sobs. "I don't have A'mer anymore!"

"I'm still waiting for the cancer to come back," Elli quietly explains. "I don't know just how effective agenothree is. It's still in the experimental phase."

"Death doesn't affect you like it affects most people," Calentia accuses her.

"Tiffany's would," Elli counters. "So would your father's, and he could help you through this. He lost a weyrmate once too, remember?"

"Okay," Calentia finally concedes.

"Do you have any tapes or pictures of him?" Elli asks.

"He refused to be recorded," Calentia mutters. "He didn't like the way his voice sounded on tape, and he was frankly creeped out by the way the phone took pictures of him."

"Ooh, that's tough," Elli says, hugging her. "Some people don't like that at all. I love being recorded, but I hate people taking pictures of me. I think the camera makes me look stupid when I'm posing. If you're going to take a picture of me, take it when I don't know you're taking it. Then you get me when I'm being genuine."

"Same with recording?" Calentia manages a watery smile.

"Yes, same with recording," Elli smiles back. "Now let's get going. You may stay as long as you want. You're grieving."


	7. Chapter 7 - Headed For Trouble

_**Chapter 7 – Headed For Trouble**_

Aurelith is the next to rise, but this time we're prepared for it. Calentia refuses to return to Igen Weyr when Aurelith rises. There are too many bad memories there of Nadira, Seska, D'nag… and now A'mer. She can't stand being there and thinking she could have stopped their deaths. She won't even go to Igen to see her stepsister. This puts Elli in a dilemma because Raeana thinks she did something to hurt Calentia's feelings.

"It's not you, Raeana," Elli explains when we land at Igen Weyr. "She just has too many bad memories of here. It's not that she doesn't want to see you. It's that she can't stand the memories. She still feels she failed Seska, and her mother was murdered by another dragonrider. Then her beloved weyrmate of more than ten Turns just recently died of Threadscore. No wonder she's upset. You're the only good memory she has left of this Weyr, as we've all gone to Honshu."

"I want to help her," whimpers Raeana in a hurt voice.

"Then come see her at Honshu," Elli suggest. "Whenever one of your queens rises to mate, just get your butt down to Honshu and drop in."

"Provided one of your queens isn't also rising," Raeana scoffs.

"We have five queens and you have three. You have enough to make a Queens' Wing. Plus, you have eggs hardening on the Hatching Ground. Do you have a queen egg?"

"Yes," Raeana mutters.

"Then there's no problem, is there?" Elli asks, giving Raeana's hands a gentle squeeze. "Let Calentia recover from her losses. Let her relax. Then perhaps she'll be able to come back.''

"But I want to be there for her!" Raeana protests.

"You can be," Elli reassures her. "Just on her terms."

"Can I come see her now?" Raeana implores Elli.

"As soon as we get the all-clear from Aurelith's mating flight."

The moment we receive it, we're a-wing back to Honshu. Calentia is overjoyed to see her sister. She sobs hysterically on Raeana's shoulder, leaving Raeana no doubt that she still loves her.

The whole family gets together for a game of cards. Elli records the whole thing, minus the dragon comments. Even the twins are allowed to play, as they are now nine Turns old.

Manora babysits the boys tonight so that the adults and older children can play. Raeana has brought her three girls to play with the boys. Ava is almost seven now, but Elli and Anja are four and one respectively and they are a handful! My rider has to scream into her arm to release tension before Manora shoos them all out of the room.

Elli's father is not doing well at all, and neither is Tiffany's oma. They're both getting up in Turns, and it's only a matter of time now for both of them.

"I do have something to report to you, though," Raeana says, laying down a three of spades. "Elsie says those twin bronze riders at Benden have turned into true bullies. M'nangle is her new Weyrmate, and he's impossible. He thinks he should be Weyrleader because he's younger than F'lar, and everything should be his by rights because he's a dragonrider. He's one of those. He thinks he's entitled to everything just because it's there. No one can stand him except N'chlas, and that's only because they share the same mindset. He's Kelsie's weyrmate… and just as impossible. I thought I was the only queen rider who couldn't stand her weyrmate."

"You love G'bare," Elli says.

"Yes, but not B'rtaler," Raeana reminds her. "He's asking to be sent to a different Weyr because Dad said he couldn't mate with any queen riders here at Igen."

"Something has to be done about them," Elli says fervently, "that's for sure. They have the exact same attitude as those Southern Oldtimers. You probably don't remember anything about them. I know more of them than I knew them personally."

"If F'lar doesn't do something fast, things could really get out-of-hand," G'narish mutters. "I'm getting reports of thefts in the name of a proper tithe. They're repeating the Oldtimers' actions all over again. Now it's modern riders that are giving us a bad name. The Oldtimers that remain are cooperating with Benden Weyr in every way, shape, and form."

"I can see why this disturbs you, Narish," Elli sighs. "We'll keep an eye on things, and we'll report it to F'lar. He'll have to act pretty soon. I thought they would just be bullies to our twins, but they're spreading out far and wide. We need to keep a good reputation on Pern, and it's being sullied once again!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Nothing But A Number

_**Chapter 8 – Nothing But A Number**_

We don't have long to wait for F'lar and Lessa to notice what the older twin bronze riders are doing. Benden's Weyrleader actually witnesses a fight between M'nangle and one of the machine smiths over a tape recorder. The device in question had actually been gifted to Elli as a name day present. M'nangle says it is supposed to be a tithe offering. F'lar swiftly intervenes and tells him that a toy is not a tithe offering. Those who wish to have tape recorders or digital voice recorders, they could have it for 3 marks.

All the craft halls had situated stores on their premises so that people could freely buy whatever they wanted. The traders no longer go to Gathers. Instead, they stock the stores full of their wares. Elli has given them the liberty to name the stores whatever they want, and the new restaurants are stocked up with Pernese dishes. Elli says there's a lot of bartering going on whenever she goes shopping. She says there was never any bartering on Earth. She's not sure if she likes the change but at least it saves us all from price gouging… whatever that means.

The next incident involved a young girl missing from her hold. She's only 13 and very beautiful. She is the daughter of Lord Asgenar and Lady Famira and beloved by them. When Elli learns there's a young lady Holder missing, she offers to go on search for her. There are no queen eggs on any of the Hatching Grounds, so she wasn't found on Search.

Elli and I are looking for a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl of 13 Turns, tall for her age, with an oval face, a petite nose, and freckles. The first place Elli looks is Benden Weyr, and that's exactly where we find the missing girl. She runs to Elli, clinging to her, sobbing hysterically.

"It's okay, sweetie," Elli says gently. "Shh, shh. Go ahead and cry. I've come to bring you back home."

"They saw me on a runnerbeast," she sobs. "They plucked me out of the air! The horse spooked, and they took me! They r-r-raped me! They made me their b-b-bed partner! When both their dragons flew greens, they pounced on me!"

"That won't happen anymore, sweetheart," Elli quietly assures the distraught girl. "I'll take you back home, and F'lar will hear about this, I assure you!"

But Mnementh's rider had already heard the reports and is furious when he approaches Elli and the girl.

"Who did this to you?" F'lar demands. "Do you know their names?"

"M-M-M'nangle and N-N-N'chlos," the terrified girl stutters. "I was a t-t-tithe offering."

"You were not a tithe offering," Lessa growls, her gray eyes snapping. "No Weyr accepts people as tithe offerings, not even drudges."

"Why are you mad at me?" the girl wails, bursting into tears again.

"I'm not mad at you, dear heart!" Lessa says more gently. "I'm furious with the riders who took you! This act calls for disciplinary action. Do you wish to go home, or do you want to stay here?"

"I can't go back home," the girl sobs miserably. "I haven't been feeling well these past two weeks, and if the problem is what I think it is, my parents will shun me. I'm only 13!"

"I wouldn't kick you out of here," Lessa assures her, smiling kindly, "but if you stay here, they might do it again."

"There won't be any repeat of this egregious disaster," F'lar grimly declares. "I'm banishing those two excrescences to a ring island with the Abominators! They can beg tithe from them all they want, but they're not going to get away with it here anymore!"

"And who knows?" Lessa adds, smiling at the girl. "You might even Impress a dragon one day."

"Me?" the girls gasps, hope glimmering in her sky-blue eyes.

"I will inform Honshu of this," Elli says. "Tiffany was absolutely petrified about sending her sons here in case those riders bullied them because of their younger age."

"Could I come with you?" the girl begs. "I can't stand it here!"

"Absolutely, sweetie-pie!" Elli replies, smiling. "You can go anywhere you like, but I will be informing your parents where you are. They're worried sick about you. And, while we're on the subject, what's your name, so I don't have to keep calling you sweetie all the time?"

"Cilyntia," the weeping girl replies, trying to muster a smile.

_That is a beautiful name, child_, I say to her. _Hello, Cilyntia._

Startled by the unexpected voice in her head, Cilyntia gasps, glancing about.

"What's wrong, Cilyntia?" Elli asks, throwing an arm around her shoulders as she escorts her out.

"Someone spoke in my head," she replies, the awe palpable in her voice.

"That was my Chlorith," Elli explains, smiling indulgently. "You're the first non-dragonrider to hear her greetings. Perhaps you will Impress a dragon after all!"

"I thought I might one day be a Lady Holder," Cilyntia whispers, still in awe. "I never dreamt I could become a dragonrider."

"You can be anything you want to be, dear heart," Elli assures her, adding a gentle hug for emphasis. "Come with us to Honshu. There's enough room for you, the bad guys are exiled, and you'll be safe there. I will foster you. I have nine children of my own, but one more won't make much difference, and if you are pregnant, I'll foster that child, too. You're far too young to have a baby. We'll fly straight to the sea first to check your condition with the dolphins, then we'll fly on to Honshu."

"Thank you!" Cilyntia weeps, returning the hug.

I always look forward to swimming with the dolphins, and today is no exception. Elli rings the newly erected bell at the cove near Honshu, and they come 'squeeing' out to meet us.

"Yet again, I have another medical question," Elli calls to them.

"Elli has baby inside!" the dolphin promptly responds.

"No, no, is Cilyntia pregnant?" Elli asks. "I'm too old to have a baby."

"Last egg is baby," says Natua happily. "Baby boy. Lyni has baby, too. Baby boy."

Elli cannot believe what she's hearing! She stands there, mouth agape, while I bugle happily! Another baby to play with! No dancing for nine months, though.

"I told G'narish I was done after Andreas!" cries Elli. "I'm a grandma! I should not be having babies!"

_I'll fly you straight home so you can let G'narish know,_ I tell her.

Suddenly, I see Rollith swimming in the sea with more dolphins. I change course at top speed and swim to her.

_What's going on?_ I demand. _Is everything okay?_

_Tiffany came to check on her cancer and found out she's pregnant,_ Rollith replies. _She thought she went through menopause twice already, and both times she was fooled._

"How can we both be pregnant at the same time again?" Elli, astride my neck ridge, stammers. "This is four times this has happened. The first time was coincidence. All the other times though?"

_Pheromones,_ I explain. _They communicate through the nose and activate other people's hormones. This is how sexual attraction occurs, and this is also how women in close quarters get their periods at the same time. You get your periods at the same time, and therefore, G'narish and F'rangle are able to impregnate you at the same time._

"Jesus Christ, Chlorith!" Elli splutters in utter amazement. "I wasn't looking for a lecture. I was being rhetorical."

_You asked; I answered,_ I tell her calmly.

"G'narish is gonna blow his top!" Elli moans. "He'll accept Cilyntia as a fosterling, but he probably won't accept another son."

_Yes, he will, and you know it!_ I fire back. _I'll fly both of you straight. That way you won't lose the babies._

When we finally return to Honshu, G'narish is nowhere to be seen. This concerns both of us. Elli's weyrmate is always there to greet us when we return. Gyarmath is here, but he is brooding, which is never a good sign.

"I'll look in our weyr," Elli says finally.

Her father is teaching F'lessan how to play poker, so Elli leaves them to it and searches for her weyrmate.

"G'narish?" she calls softly, knocking on their door. "Sweetheart? It's me."

There is no answer, but she hears noises in the room, so she knows he's okay. It sounds like a tape playing.

"Narish?" Elli calls again, louder this time.

She can't pick out the voices on the tape. She tries the door, but it's locked. This is not a good sign. G'narish always leaves the door unlocked for her.

"Yes!" he suddenly shouts, clapping his hands together. "It works! It actually works! Gyarmath, say something, I'm recording!"

Elli doesn't understand the jubilation, but I do. G'narish has been experimenting with the new sonar tape recorders for a month, and he has finally been able to put one together for her.

_Elli is looking for you,_ I say.

G'narish shuts off the tape and rewinds it.

"Elli is looking for you."

My voice is as clear as day on the tape, and once again, G'narish cries out in jubilation. He is actually bouncing on the bed.

"G'narish!" Elli cries, horrified at all the noise she cannot interpret in the room. "What's going on?"

He runs to the door, opens it, and hands her the tape recorder.

"I've been tinkering with it for a whole month," he explains, his excitement barely contained. "I meant to give it to you for your birthday, but I couldn't figure it out in time."

"I got one for my birthday from you, remember?" Elli says, confused.

"This one has a special feature," he explains.

He plays the tape back for her, and now she can hear my voice plain as day. Overjoyed, tears of delight streaming down her beaming face, Elli jumps up-and-down, hugging her weyrmate.

"And I have some news for you, too," she quietly tells him once she settles down, "but you might not like it."

She briefly explains about Cilyntia, and her visit to the dolphins. Predictably, G'narish starts to cry, hugging and kissing her, laughing through his tears.

"We've got to be the oldest parents on Pern!" Elli weeps, returning his hug.

"Or close to it!" G'narish adds, grinning ear to ear. "I'm 61 years old, and I'm gonna be a daddy again!"

"I'm way too old for this," Elli complains.

"We all believed you were too old to Impress, but Chlorith didn't think so," G'narish retorted, grinning at Elli. "You're never too old or too young for anything. Age is nothing but a number."

"You sound like my ex!" Elli groans.

"That's the one true thing he ever said to you," G'narish tells her. "Age is no prerequisite for anything."


	9. Chapter 9 - Rebuilding Shattered Trust

_**Chapter 9 – Rebuilding Shattered Trust**_

It is a good thing the humans were able to manufacture hatching grounds, because right now we have another double clutch on the sands. The twins mated a day apart, and so will clutch at the same time, or perhaps a day apart. Though the Pass is coming to a close, there are 35 eggs from each queen, with a queen egg in both clutches. Our biological systems must not have gotten the message that we don't need to reproduce so much anymore.

I'm hoping that Cilyntia gets one of the queens. She is a very smart girl, and we have in-depth conversations when Elli's fatigue gets the better of her. When Cilyntia gets her own queen, they, too, will have in-depth conversations. She would be 16 when her queen rose to mate, so she would be mature enough. It is a sad thing that her virginity was forcefully taken from her at such a tender age.

Elli fawns on her more than her biological children. Cilyntia needs it, though. She is afraid to sleep in her own room. G'narish understands, so they allow her to sleep between them as long as their gravid bellies will allow. She wakes in the night, gasping, trembling, and weeping. Elli is torn between comforting her fosterling and her weyrmate, as he still has nightmares every night. Only I can reassure her. Only I can calm her down. She always calls for me, so when Elli and G'narish can't comfort her, she crawls into my foreleg and sleeps there.

Riding a dragon scares her more than anything else because that was how she was abducted. I think some good desensitization therapy will cure that, but right now, she cannot go _between_. Even though she doesn't want this baby, she never even thinks of abortion. There is a life inside her, and it would be evil to kill it. Elli and I are the only ones with whom she can let it out. G'narish tries to reach her, but she is deathly afraid of all men. Elli explains that it is a trauma for her because of what happened to her. I can tell G'narish is deeply hurt by this fear, but there is nothing he can do.

"Just keep trying with her, dear heart," Elli gently urges him after Cilyntia runs screaming from him yet again. "It's like you with Threadfall. It's the same disorder. Uh-oh, whoops!"

Her mention of Threadfall has sent G'narish into one of his blackout flashbacks. Elli tries to hold him, but he acts as though he's on dragonback, fighting Thread, trying to reach out to D'nag who is disappearing before his eyes. He thinks Elli is D'nag and he holds her tightly, unaware that she is not dematerializing under a shower of Thread, but solidly there. In his mind, she is D'nag, and he is going, going, gone. He crumples to the floor, sobbing inconsolably and uncontrollably.

In the middle of this, Cilyntia has ventured back into the room, wanting Elli's comfort. She has not seen G'narish's nightmares or flashbacks, because she is generally having hers at the same time.

"What's wrong with him?" she quietly asks, looking concerned.

"He's like you, Lyni," Elli says tenderly. "He's having flashbacks. He lost his best friend to a heavy clump of Thread, and he's seeing him vanish all over again. Oh, shards!" she curses, slapping a hand over her mouth. "That word set him off yet again!"

"Words don't trigger me," Lyni responds, "just sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. I can't drink Benden wine anymore, because they got me drunk on it."

"What did they say if you told them no?" Elli inquires.

"'No means yes, and yes means anal.'" she mutters, grimacing at the recollection.

Dragons don't have sex in over a thousand positions like humans do. It is strictly a primal need with us, meant only for reproduction purposes, not pleasure. We love our weyrmates, but we do not seek pleasure when we mate. It is purely an animal instinct.

"Shards and Shells!" Elli curses, completely forgetting G'narish who is in the throes of yet another flashback and is reaching out to her, once again thinking she is D'nag.

"If those awful riders think virgins are an honest tithe offering," Elli grumbles, hugging her weyrmate and rocking gently back and forth, "F'lar had every right to exile them! They're terrible! Absolute pedophiles! This really has to be dealt with so that it never happens again!"

"G'narish?" Cilyntia calls softly, reaching out her hand.

Thinking he's holding onto D'nag, he grasps it and clings to it.

"I'm here, G'narish," Lyni calmly assures him. "You can let it out. I know you won't hurt me now. You're just like me."

That's a relief, I quietly tell myself. If we can just get her to trust F'lessan. She trusts the dragons, but not the human males. Now she trusts G'narish. He'll be thrilled when he realizes he's earned her trust. That only happened because she saw his perceived weakness.

Cilyntia takes him in her arms and holds him, awkwardly at first, then gaining more and more confidence as he clings to her for dear life.

"It's okay, Daddy," she weeps. "Let it out. It's all over now. You couldn't do anything for him. Mama told me. It's not your fault he died. Blame it on Thread. That's what killed him. You couldn't have warned him in time."

"Don't say the t-word," Elli whispers frantically in her ear. "That sets him off. Seeing it, hearing it, and hearing the word in any context sets him off."

"I'm sorry, Daddy." Lyni apologizes.

"You don't have to call us Mama and Daddy if you don't want to," Elli says softly. "We're your foster parents, not your biological ones. I wish we could adopt on Pern, though. Then a lot of problems would be solved."

"But I could never return to Lemos Hold after what happened to me," Cilyntia cries. "I would be too ashamed to face Asgenar and Famira. If they found out what happened to me, they would disown me!"

"Why would you think that?" Elli firmly demands. "You were abducted and raped. That wasn't your fault. No one would fault you for that. What you may not know, dear heart, is that they have been frantically trying to find you."

"But Asgenar and Famira will have a grandson from their youngest child. They won't be happy about it at all."

"If you don't want to return to Lemos Hold, that is your choice," Elli replies; "but you should at least let them know you're okay. That's common courtesy, Cilyntia. They might even like to see their grandson once he's born."

"Are you sure I don't have to go back home?" Lyni pleads, tears in her hope-filled eyes.

"Absolutely positively sure," Elli reassures her. "But I feel guilty about treating you like my own, because your parents love you, too. They may not want me to foster you."

"Oh, please, let me stay!" Cilyntia weeps, torn between hugging her foster Mom and caring for her foster Dad. "I can't bear the sight of their faces when they learn I'm pregnant!"

This is a circular conversation and Elli knows it. She nods in understanding and, once her suffering weyrmate has calmed down, asks G'narish to send a message with one of her queens when he feels up to it, telling Asgenar and Famira that they found their daughter pregnant and that she does not wish to return home.


	10. Chapter 10 - Master Teacher

_**Chapter 10 – Master Teacher**_

The eggs are hatching! We barely have time to robe the candidates and get them situated before the first egg cracks. It is a long time before the little bronze makes Impression, as he searches through all the candidates a few times over before finally selecting his choice. He takes so long he collides with several of the other dragonets who Hatched after him.

Cilyntia is on the sands, shaking in her boots. To Impress means to ride a-dragonback, and to ride a-dragonback was to be associated with being raped and impregnated by two dragonriders.

I hold my breath. It has been proven that dragons can hold their breaths for 15 minutes. I thrum madly as the queens Hatch. I'm rooting for Cilyntia, but will a dragon accept her fear?

When one of the little queens makes a beeline for her, Cilyntia turns and flees the sands, screaming in fear. The little queen takes flight, following her every move. She finally lands in Cilyntia's arms, crying piteously. Cilyntia stops her flight and gazes down at the beautiful queen dragonet in her arms. For a full minute, she stands there, absorbing the Impression, all traces of fear gone. She slowly walks back toward the sands to view the rest of the Hatching with the other new dragonriders. Cilyntia has Impressed Aureath's queen daughter. She strokes her little dragonet, unwilling to set her down.

"Where's the food?" she almost demands. "Curreth is hungry. I can feel it!"

Elli walks over to her with a big bucket of scraps. G'narish places his hand on her back to propel her forward because she doesn't have her cane in her hand. Carrying that bucket requires her to use both hands.

"Put her down so you can feed her," G'narish says, smiling at his foster daughter. "She'll eat it from the ground."

"Isn't she supposed to hand-feed her?" asks Elli. "That's what I did with Chlorith."

_Sit down on the ground, sweetie,_ I quietly urge her, _and she'll come to you._

Cilyntia does as she is told and sits down on the ground. She hand-feeds her new queen scraps from the bucket as the other new riders are doing. It brings back memories of my Hatching, and I can tell by Elli's thoughts that she's remembering it as well.

_I was there, you were there, we are now together,_ I say happily to her.

But there's a twinge of sadness in her thoughts I can't fathom, until she runs to me, flinging her arms around me as best she can.

"I tried to reject you, Chlori," Elli weeps, clinging fiercely to me. "I thought I was too old for you, but I was wrong. The young at heart still have a chance to Impress. I love you so much, my precious darling queen! You are the light of my life… my voice when I can't speak myself… my eyes when I can't see well enough to do things myself… the best of all of me! That's what you always see in me! I can do no wrong in your eyes. I am perfect, and that's what I always strived to be. I can fail epically but still be perfect, because that's what I am to you. I love that I can be loved unconditionally. I never thought I had that on Earth. Now on Pern, I do have that."

"Yes, you do," G'narish and I say together. "I love you very much. I will never leave you."

"I guess I have that reassurance in stereo," Elli laughs. "Tiffany should be in this moment, as well."

As if on cue, Tiffany strides up to us with her cane. She puts an arm around Elli.

"I love you unconditionally, too," she says. "You always knew that."

"But I was unsure how long I would have you," Elli responds. "You were given a week to live at one point, remember?"

"But I pulled through it," Tiffany replies, "and now I'm cancer free! That HNO3 stuff really did the trick. It made me pretty sick, but that's a small price to pay. Opa always told me that I would be okay, and now I am. I'm really worried about Oma, though. She's 99 now. I'm expecting her to go at any time."

"And I will be there when she does," Elli declares stoutly.

_And I_, rejoins Rollith, just as firmly.

Elli gives her a big hug, releases her, then gives G'narish the same treatment.

"How are you and F'rangle doing?" Elli asks slyly, turning back to her pseudo twin sister.

"He's thrilled to be a father again," Tiffany chuckles. "The dolphins were wrong, though. Turns out we're expecting fraternal twins according to the ultrasound."

"Way too many twins!" Elli comments. "Even the dragons are Hatching twins now. Is there something new in the air ever since they got rid of the Red star?"

"Who knows?" Tiffany laughs. "I doubt it. I think it's because we were twins in a past life or something."

_I never read up on reincarnation,_ I comment, _but that sounds quite interesting. Could I possibly get Nadira, Seska, and D'nag back in a different form?_

"Probably not," Elli says gently, "but it's a thought."

"Let's get to the feast," Tiffany urges us all. "I'm starving, and the girls need to feed their dragons."

_I need to teach dragons like myself to become smarter,_ I say pensively. _How would I go about setting up a school?_

"Dragons can talk to each other no matter where they are," Elli reminds me. "Just start babbling at them."

_I shall start tomorrow then_, I declare. _For now, let everyone feast tonight. Tomorrow, we start fresh in the morning._

"You go, girl!" Elli shouts, giving my head another hug; the only place she can safely do so as the rest of me is too big.

_You would be the Masterteacher,_ Rollith says impudently.

_Masterteacher Chlorith_, Gyarmath chimes in from his ledge.

_There's only one problem,_ Rollith points out. _The older dragons don't have very good memories. If you teach them something, they'll forget it next day._

_Yes, that is a problem,_ I reply. _How are we going to solve that?_

"How about teaching them to extract information from their riders' minds?" Elli suggests. "Kind of like what you did during Impression."

_ An interesting possibility,_ I say contemplatively. _Yes, I'll try that._

A school for dragons? Now wouldn't that be something!

****** The End ******


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